Faith & Social Justice: In the spirit of Richard Overton and the 17th C. Levellers

American Democratic Socialist Heroes

Yes, I’ve learned from Karl Marx. Though never considering myself any kind of doctrinaire Marxist, I find Marx’s critique of Capital unanswerable, especially the alienation of workers from the fruits of their labor. I’ve learned from heterodox, creative Marxists like Antonio Gramsci, Herbert Marcuse, the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School (escpecially Habermas), British Fabians and others. But when I call myself a democratic socialist and think of myself as standing in the democratic socialist tradition of struggle for economic democracy to complement political democracy and for a free, non-racist, non-sexist, non-classist, ecologically sound, non-heterosexist society, it is primarily the home-grown American socialist heroes and heroines of whom I think. Below are a few that have been especially influential and inspiring to me. There is no order in the listing except who I think of first, etc.

Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926).A prominent labor leader in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen in his youth, Debs founded the American Railway Union (1894), the Socialist Party of America (1901), and the Industrial Workers of the World (the Wobblies) (1905). He ran for president five times on the Socialist Party ticket, winning millions of votes, though never a single electoral vote. (The Electoral College and the filibuster in the U.S. Senate, are the two most anti-democratic features of our republic’s structure and both need abolishing.) A pacifist, Debs openly opposed U.S. entry into World War I which, because Congress had passed an Espionage Act which made any opposition to the war effort the equivalent of treason (a law which was clearly unconstitutional), landed Debs in prison for 10 years. He ran for president from prison and won over 2 million votes! He was not pardoned and released until 1923, when Pres. Harding pardoned him as an old man. His particular Socialist Party had since died, torn itself apart while he was imprisoned over support or opposition to the new Bolshevik regime in the USSR. But Debs’ ideals of economic empowerment, organized working people demanding justice for their labor, and international movement of workers, opposition to war as a tool of capitalist oppression, and the dignity of common people live on. Favorite Debs quotes include “While there is a lower class, I am in it; while there is a “criminal element,” I am of it; while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”

W. E. B. DuBois (1868-1963).First African-American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard, DuBois was a historian, sociologist (including sociologist of religion), criminologist, civil rights activist, pan-Africanist, who flirted with Communism, but returned to democratic socialism. He once ran for NY Senator on the American Labor Party ticket.

Mary Harris “Mother” Jones (1830-1930). Labor leader and organizer famous for her slogan, “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.” Considered the “Miner’s Angel” because of her strong advocacy for miners against exploitive bosses, dangerous working conditions, child labor, bad wages, poor benefits, etc. Yes, she is the inspiration for the magazine, Mother Jones.

Jane Addams (1860-1935), Nobel Prize Laureate, who founded Hull House in Chicago and with it, social work in the United States. An early feminist, she worked to end poverty in the United States and to advance the cause of women worldwide. Also a pacifist, she was the founding head of the Women’s Peace Party and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

Norman Thomas (1884-1968).Son of an Ohio Presbyterian minister, Thomas graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University, before following in his father’s footsteps, graduating from Union Theological Seminary of NY and becoming a Presbyterian minister. A pacifist, Thomas preached against the U.S. entering into WWI and became an early member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. He soon became a major leader of the Socialist Party of America and ran for president 6 times.

Dorothy Day (1897-1980). She flirted with Communism in her youth as a radical, anarchist, journalist, but after a conversion near the time of the birth of her only child, Tamar, she became a baptized Catholic. Then, she co-founded the Catholic Worker movement with Peter Maurin, combining democratic socialism, pacifism, with teachings of the Gospels and the Catholic social encyclicals.

Michael Harrington (1928-1989) , trained at Yale as a lawyer, this founder and chair of the Democratic Socialists of America (not a political party, but a movement), he was an early participant in the Catholic Worker movement, but lost his faith in God. A writer, political activist, professor of political science, radio commentator, Harrington’s The Other America: Poverty in the United States, inspired the Johnson administration’s War on Poverty.

Pauli Murray (1910-1985)first African-American woman to earn a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School. A civil rights activist, writer, poet, feminist, and one of the earliest women ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church. Murray was always a democratic socialist.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), although never the Communist that J. Edgar Hoover and others charged him with being, was attracted to socialism and, after his visit to India in 1960, and Sweden and Norway in 1964, became a democratic socialist in thought, though never part of any Socialist party or organization.

Cornel West (1954-), Professor of Religious Studies and Philosophy at Princeton University, and one of the great public intellectuals of our day. Has been a co-Chair of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Gary J. Dorrien (1952-) is an Episcopal priest, theologian, and Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Christian Ethics at Union Theological Seminary. He is a strong advocate of economic democracy and historian of the Social Gospel and of socialism in the United States.

UPDATE: I forgot to include:

Ella Baker (1903-1986), civil and human rights activist. Never part of any socialist party, she worked for labor and economic justice causes and shared socialist ideals and convictions.

A. J. Muste (1885-1967)began as a candidate for ministry in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) who went to Union Theological Seminary of New York. As a student he became involved in labor and social gospel causes and joined the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Later pastored a Congregationalist church while working on labor issues–led to loss of his church. Temporarily, he lost his faith and adopted the Trotskyite form of Marxism. On a visit to the USSR and then a meeting with Trotsky in the latter’s exile, Muste was dramatically reconverted to pacifist Christianity. He became a Quaker and the Executive Director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. He joined the Socialist Party of America and campaigned for Norman Thomas. In retirement from the F.O.R., Muste went to work for the War Resisters’ League.

Bayard Rustin (1910-1987), gay African-American Quaker who was imprisoned for resisting the draft during WWII. Former communist who broke with the Communist Party over Stalin and joined the Socialist Party of America. Rustin was prominent in peace and human rights issues–and was the behind the scenes planner of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

These are but a few of the many key thinkers and activists in the American tradition of Democratic Socialism. I place myself with the experimental, non-dogmatic, pragmatist and pacifist strand of this heritage.

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7 Comments

Your opening paragraph ticks some of my boxes (although I have only recently discovered Gramsci). I’d add Che too, from his writings.
Thanks for the rest of the list, I know some like De Bois and West, but others are new to me. I used to be a right wing libertarian – Rand, von Mises, Hayek, and all that, but Thatcher cured me of that attachment (I’m in the UK), and becoming a Christian confirmed it.

Welcome, Antony. I’d love to see a genealogy of the British socialist tradition.

Comment by Michael Westmoreland-White |
November 14, 2009

The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).

Every vote, everywhere, would be politically relevant and equal in presidential elections.

The bill would take effect only when enacted, in identical form, by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes–that is, enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538). When the bill comes into effect, all the electoral votes from those states would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).

The Constitution gives every state the power to allocate its electoral votes for president, as well as to change state law on how those votes are awarded.

The bill is currently endorsed by over 1,659 state legislators (in 48 states) who have sponsored and/or cast recorded votes in favor of the bill.

The National Popular Vote bill has passed 29 state legislative chambers, in 19 small, medium-small, medium, and large states, including one house in Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Oregon, and both houses in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. The bill has been enacted by Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, and Washington. These five states possess 61 electoral votes — 23% of the 270 necessary to bring the law into effect.

Did you leave off Helen Keller because she was not a Democratic Socialist? I don’t know much about that side of her, other than I know she has some excellent quotes on the topic.

Are you familiar with Helen and Scott Nearing? They were back-to-earthers/simple living advocates in the 1940s who were some sort of socialists. They have good books on living within our means and the agrarian movement.

About

Michael L. Westmoreland-White, Ph.D. I live in Louisville, KY USA with my wife, Kate, and our two wonderful daughters. My wife, Kate, is a Baptist minister who works at a Catholic charity (the Society of St. Vincent de Paul) to provide assisted housing to homeless people. Our daughters are Molly (’95) and Miriam (’99). I am a former soldier converted to gospel nonviolence and a once (and future?) academic theologian turned peace activist, author, and peace educator. Contact me at mlw-w@insightbb.com

The Levellers were a 17th C. movement during the English Civil War. They were a religiously-inspired political movement for democracy, human rights, justice for the poor, and peace. Their strongest leader was Richard Overton, a pacifist General Baptist influenced by Dutch Mennonites. Although I write on a wide range of topics, most often this blog deals with the intersection of faith, especially Christian faith, and work for social justice and peace. So, I have named the blog and dedicated it to the spirit of Richard Overton and the 17th C. Levellers.

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